New Jersey builder, designer makes woodsy Poconos a trendy style

Sunday

Jan 25, 2015 at 9:23 PMJan 25, 2015 at 9:24 PM

Diane MastrullThe Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)

No one will ever accuse Kraig Kalashian of a dearth of ideas. He's an architect, after all, with a portfolio of 20 ambitious projects, most of them hotels and restaurants across the United States. And he once owned a firm specializing in hospitality-industry interiors.

Selling that interior-design business, Studio 1200, meant he could focus on yet another idea: building modern homes in the Poconos, on spec, that would emphasize creativity, craftsmanship, sustainability, and affordability. They would be fully outfitted, in part with furniture and accessories made by Pocono Modern, a company Kalashian started in 2007 to do all that.

Just one problem: lousy timing. He launched Pocono Modern just as the housing market caved in.

"We were trying to build a company when nobody would even give us a credit card," he said.

But things like that don't scare entrepreneurs. If true to the calling, they're as pliable as wax blobs in a lava lamp.

In classic entrepreneurial fashion, Kalashian improvised. He launched a retail business to sell the furnishings and accessories Pocono Modern produced or designed, or other U.S.-based companies made, for the houses he envisioned building.

One retail creation — the hardwood Johnny bench ($775) — led to another, such as the Louie concrete end table ($495), and picture frames made from old barns. And to things not so involved, such as playing cards that were a crowdfunding hit on Kickstarter last spring, raising $13,000 from 550 backers — all 2,500 Woodland Decks sold.

"The idea is we want to create these platforms of experiences," Kalashian said of the range of products. "The scales of the experiences are what makes us unique."

Pyrex posters

Now, the retail business — operating from a storefront in historic Chester, Morris County, New Jersey, and online at poconomodern.com — is helping Kalashian realize his home-building ambition.

"We started posting online, and people started finding it and buying," Kalashian said, estimating total retail sales at $100,000 in 2014, up from $5,000 two years ago. His goal is $1 million in sales by 2020 — the current revenue of his architecture firm of 12 employees.

Among the hottest items are colorful prints, posters, and calendars of retro Pyrex — yes, the cookware.

"We literally sell thousands of these online," Kalashian said, pausing before a Pyrex display as he led a tour of his store and adjacent design studio.

Why Chester, a 65-minute drive from the mountain resort area that is Pocono Modern's focus, and the inspiration for some of its creations? (The Woodland Deck cards are based on animals common there.)

Because of his $1 million architecture business, Kraig Kalashian Architecture & Design, founded in 2009. It requires Kalashian, 40, to travel a lot.

Chester offers easy access to several airports, he said. Plus, "it's kind of this historic downtown that meshes well with how we like to do things," with a focus on U.S.-made products and restoring pride in craftsmanship.

One house a year

Pocono Modern, with $500,000 in annual revenue and five employees, builds one fully outfitted house a year — not letting potential buyers see anything until the house is completed. All six built so far were priced at about $120 a square foot. At 800 to 4,000 square feet, they sold for $125,000 to $400,000.

Houses are named, as Kalashian put it, after "the pearly toothed game-show hosts of yesteryear." Rayburn, Martindale, Barker, Eubanks, Davidson, Clark and Barris make up the lineup so far.

In 2012, John Wittenbraker and Kathleen Harring, who live in the Harleysville area, took possession of their Davidson. (Its namesake is John Davidson, former host of "That's Incredible!," "Time Machine," and "Hollywood Squares" in the 1980s and a revival of "The $100,000 Pyramid" in 1991.)

"He's a guy who follows his passion," Wittenbraker said of Kalashian.

The custom work at the couple's Pocono Modern home — including shelves, railings, lighting fixtures, herringbone headboard, and queen-size bunk beds — "gives the place authenticity, distinctiveness, and it fits our sensibilities," said Wittenbraker, 57, a consultant with an office in Wayne. His wife works in administration at Muhlenberg College in Allentown.

"I'm happy to be a collaborator in his vision," Wittenbraker said.

Trust Kraig

Trusting in that vision is Shawn Mahoney, 38, of Jim Thorpe, who traveled daily to the Philadelphia area to do wall-covering work, mostly commercial, from age 18 to 32. That's when Kalashian, whom Mahoney met when the two played in a band together, recruited him to serve as project manager on each home Pocono Modern builds.

Mahoney also makes most of the furniture, cabinetry and anything else.

"Kraig comes up with these ideas," like concrete countertops smoothed to a near-marble finish, Mahoney said with a mix of exhaustion and awe. "He just blurts them out. If I think about it too much, it can get me nervous. ... I've taken the position that I'm going to trust Kraig to lead where I'm going."

Kalashian now has his sights on developing modern Pocono-area hotels the way he builds houses — "where everything speaks the language" of his company.

"The hotel industry is searching for a new voice," he said.

Meanwhile, Pocono Modern has just dealt a new deck of cards, the Retro, for $15.

"Our hope is we can strengthen our online business, and that will ideally create a revenue stream to afford more product and build more houses," Kalashian said.